- This article is about the characters in Greek mythology. For the British theatre company of the same name, see Graeae Theatre Company.
Extensive Definition
The Graeae (English
translation: "old women", "gray ones", or "gray witches",one
eye and one tooth.alternatively spelled Graiai, Graiae, Graii),
were three sisters, one of several trinities of archaic goddesses
in Greek mythology. The Graeae were daughters of Phorcys, one aspect
of the "old man of the sea," and Ceto, and thus were
among the Phorcydes, all of
which were archaic beings either of the sea or chthonic deities. The Graeae
took the form of three grey-haired old women, though poets might
give them the euphemistic designation "beautiful." Their age was so
great that a childhood for them was hardly conceivable. Hesiod reports their
names as Deino ("dread", the dreadful anticipation of horror), Enyo
("horror" the "waster of cities" who had an identity separate from
this sisterhood) and Pemphredo ("alarm") (Theogony, 270-274; also
Apollodorus,
ii.4.2; sometimes spelled Porphredo or Demphredo). Hyginus
adds a fourth, Persis or Perso.
Like another set of crones at the oldest levels
of both Germanic and Norse
mythology, they had but one eye and one tooth among them. These
were shared and the sisters took turns in using them. By stealing
their eye while they were passing it between them, the hero
Perseus
forced them to tell the whereabouts of their sisters, the Gorgons, ransoming
the seeing eye for the information. The Graeae can be compared with
the three spinners of Destiny (the
Moirae), the
northern European Norns, or the Baltic
goddess Laima
and her two sisters. In the movie Clash
of the Titans, the Graeae were called the Stygian
Witches.
Graeae in Bulgarian: Граи
Graeae in Breton: Graied
Graeae in Catalan: Grees
Graeae in German: Graien
Graeae in Modern Greek (1453-): Γραίες
Graeae in Spanish: Grayas
Graeae in Estonian: Graiad
Graeae in Finnish: Graiat
Graeae in French: Grées
Graeae in Italian: Graie
Graeae in Japanese: グライアイ
Graeae in Lithuanian: Grajos
Graeae in Dutch: Graeae
Graeae in Polish: Graje
Graeae in Romanian: Graeae
Graeae in Russian: Грайи
Graeae in Serbian: Греје
Graeae in Swedish: Graierna
Graeae in Ukrainian: Граї